It has long been known in this art to use fireplace grates, typically comprising a number of metal bars shaped and welded together to form a rack to hold one or more logs off of the floor of a fireplace. These grates serve to elevate the logs above the floor of the fireplace for better burning and keep the logs from rolling out of the fireplace.
Conventional fireplace grates, however, allow the ashes from the logs to simply fall to the floor of the fireplace, which must later be cleaned. Removal of the ashes from the fireplace is a very messy, time consuming and inconvenient process.
Because of the inconvenience of having to clean up after using a conventional fireplace grate, many people are reluctant to use their fireplaces. This is particularly true of apartment dwellers, many of whom do not have the tools to clean the fireplace or simply do not wish to expend the time and effort. The importance of convenience to these people is made more evident by the popularity of manufactured, paper type fire logs, which are easier and cleaner to handle, burn and clean up the wood logs.